Domesticating Kelsen: Towards the Pure Theory of English Law

There exists a genuine degree of scepticism as to whether Hans Kelsen’s pure theory of law can rationalise the intricacies of the English legal system. This groundbreaking book examines pertinent aspects of English law relating to constitutional patterns of law-making, the relationship between law and policy, and the ultimate efficacy of the legal order, through the pure theory’s prism.

This insightful book demonstrates that Kelsen’s theory is highly suitable to examine some of these issues, and in some aspects of English law it actually possesses the analytical cutting edge. Beginning with an overview of the outlook and methodology of the pure theory of law and placing it within the broader focus of positive scholarship, Orakhelashvili moves on to offer a description of the relationship between methods of the legal theory and the workings of a legal system, along with assessments of the relationship between law and policy in legal theory and in judicial practice, and of criticisms of the pure theory.

Thoughtful and perceptive, this book will be valuable reading for legal scholars, social scientists, judges, practicing lawyers, legal historians, political scientists, and law students.